Louisville's nightlife evolves from secret underground

In recent years, local leaders have made it a top priority to keep young professionals in Louisville.

That has led to the creation of more education and job opportunities, as well as a revamped social scene.

But the beginning of Louisville's nightlife was in a time of gangsters, outlaws and a secret underground.

"There were two doors, one led to the street, the other to the Rathskeller. He could run through into the kitchen, and taken the two series of tunnels and got away from the police," said Seelbach Hotel historian Larry Johnson.

Many consider it the birthplace of nightlife for Louisville's elite.

During the 1920s Prohibition era, when alcohol and gambling were illegal, the secret underground was the place to do it without getting caught.

From secret alert buttons in the lobby that triggered spring-loaded doors in the poker room, to secret underground escape routes, it was the speakeasy place to drink, gamble and get away before cops could catch on.

"You had a tunnel over this way, this tunnel and then these small tunnels over here. This one over here went all the way out, over to Muhammad Ali (Boulevard,) across Muhammad Ali. Now it goes about 30 feet," said Johnson.

It's been said some mail carriers were able to deliver mail to just about every building in downtown Louisville without ever setting foot above ground.

Most of the tunnels weren't discovered until the early 1980s and have since been closed off, but the underground lifestyle lives on.

"We just wanted to create an environment we wanted to hang out in," said Chad Sheffield with Decca, located in the area east of downtown referred to as Nulu.

There you'll find art, fine dining, hand-crafted drinks and live music in a building built in the 1800s.

"Tapping into all of those facets was our goal, but you never know what people are going to be drawn to," said Sheffield.

It's a place where in one sitting, people can be entertained in multiple ways.

Meat, in Louisville's Butchertown neighborhood, is a hideaway bar, specializing in hand-crafted exotic drink creations. It is currently ranked among the top 50 bars in the world by Drinks International.

The bar is a tribute to Louisville circa 1920.

"That's when cocktails were at their greatest, the American bartender style in cocktails was far beyond England or those areas," said Marie Zahn, bar manager at Meat.

There is also a portrait of Louisville's mayor at the start of prohibition in 1920 and the mayor of Louisville when it ended in 1933.

"There's a deep history with alcohol. You could make the argument that this country was founded on all of that," said Sheffield.

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